AF inspections find 32,216 inappropriate or offensive items

The Air Force today said it found 32,216 instances of inappropriate or offensive material at bases around the world — including explicit magazines at its Air Education and Training Command headquarters in San Antonio — during inspections late last year.

The service found 631 instances of pornography in the health and welfare inspections at more than 100 installations worldwide.

It also reported finding 27,598 instances of “inappropriate material,” ranging from posters and calendars to graffiti.

At the AETC headquarters on Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, 40 explicit magazines were uncovered.

The items there and elsewhere were documented or destroyed, the Air Force said.

“The Air Force succeeds because of the professionalism and discipline of our Airmen,” Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh III said in a statement posted on the service's website, www.af.mil. “We have a significant number of Airmen who feel they have to 'go along to get along' by ignoring inappropriate images, workplace comments, or other material that makes them uncomfortable.

“That's simply not the Air Force we want to be,” he continued. “EVERY Airman is critically important and everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Anything less reflects a lack of discipline and a failure to honor our values. It also marginalizes great Airmen, degrades mission effectiveness and hurts unit morale. We simply can't, and won't, tolerate it.”